Honorable Mention
Tidal Wave
DESCRIPTION
Gravity asserts its power, the heavy blue mass stealthily shifts, carving theground as it covers all in it’s wake, leaving terrain altered beyond
recognition.
From series "Message from GRACE: Imaginings of an Altered World"
Artist Statement:
High above the Atlantic, suspended between time zones and uncertain outcomes, sleep comes fitfully. In the dark, the world shifts. Midnight reading offers a distraction but also deeper evidence for concern. Earth’s axis tilts, gravity pulls, seasons change, ice melts, flooding waters rise, or the earth is left parched, the natural world changes beyond recognition. Human activity contributes to these seismic shifts in Earth’s mass and atmosphere. Heightened awareness of our ever-changing world leaves bodies and spirits under stress from this increased vulnerability. Adapt and change to a new way of being or turn a deaf ear and a blind eye to the comprehensive observations from both elders and science warning of the consequence of denial. Message from GRACE offers an inverted reality, present but not yet seen. Delicate details or vast landscapes are familiar yet strange, hold both beauty and decay, alarm and possibilities. How to make sense of our off-kilter politics, environment, relationships? How can we shape our near and distant future?
"NASA'S GRACE Mission satellites, (Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment) relay data that has transformed analysis of changes in the Earth's system. GRACE-FO, scheduled for launch in late 2017, will continue the work of tracking Earth's water movement to monitor changes in underground water storage, the amount of water in large lakes and rivers, soil moisture, ice sheets and glaciers, and sea level caused by the addition of water to the ocean. These discoveries provide a unique view of Earth's climate and have far-reaching benefits to society and the world's population."
https://gracefo.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/overview"
AUTHOR
Dawn Watson attended classes at Maine Media Workshop, International Center of Photography and Santa Fe Workshop. Her work is influenced by Peter Turnley, Cig Harvey, Valerie Jardin, Elizabeth Avedon, among others. Watson currently studies with Sandi Haber-Fifield. Her work is held in private collections and has been shown in juried exhibitions at A Smith Gallery, The Center for Fine Art Photography, The DarkRoom Gallery, The Griffen Museum, Providence Center for Photographic Arts, The Lodge at Woodloch Gallery, New York Center for Photographic Arts, Photoplace Gallery, Tang Museum at Skidmore College, The Tilt Gallery and most recently at the dnj Gallery in Santa Monica, CA where she won First Prize in the LACP Member Exhibition and was awarded a solo exhibition at the Los Angeles Center of Photography this August. Based in Hastings on Hudson, NY, Watson is an advocate for the arts and the environment. She continues her long association as board member of Scenic Hudson Inc., a regional environmental group charged with preserving the Hudson River and environs.